Midori Umi - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Too much rock for the emo kids, too much pop for the neo-wavers, too sentimental for the punks, to happy for the shoegazers Midori Umi plays indie pop/rock with roots in their record collections of Kinks rarities, lo-fi dream pop, 70's arena anthems, and 80's-90's college rock. They often sing sweet heart-felt harmonies followed by turning on a Big Muff and letting the air awash with fuzz. They have a Japanese name, but no foreign band members, unless you count North Carolina. Theyll sing about bitter melancholy and crack a joke in the same breath--theyll wear tee-shirts to a dinner party and diamonds to a picnic. Slap-happy and sad-sack, polished and gritty, pretty as a crooked tooth... ***************************** "This quartet's debut EP opens with the pop floss of "Straight to the Bone," playing on the female/male harmonies of guitarists Paula Smith and Ryan Wade. Out spits "Give me something to shake, rattle around 'til you can't feel the weight" as adrenaline guitar shoots into the left ventricle. "Nature Breaks" continues resurrecting early-Nineties dynamo-pop (with Yo La Tengo as an obvious influence), heavy on the interlacing of Smith's jittery axe, Logan's bass, and drummer Chris Laurel's thump. By the time the spirited instrumental "Hat Trick" rolls around, you want to slam dance in your old worn Sebadoh shirt. Piss and romance. " --Audra Schroeder, The Austin Chronicle*****************

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 23/03/2005
Band Website: www.midoriumi.com
Band Members: Ryan Wade - guitar, vocals Paula J. Smith - guitar, vocals Zachary Logan - bass, vocals Chris (xlrl) Laurel - drums, synths, tambourine, percussion
Influences: the kinks, sonic youth, yo la tengo, guided by voices, the beatles, mbv, the pixies, the byrds, led zep, pavement, the sea and cake, eno, bowie, early U2 and REM, flaming lips, built to spill, pretenders, missing persons, french kicks, beach boys, wilco, pink floyd, luna, galaxie 500, the shins, iron maiden...
Sounds Like: ***music even your mother might like***the kinks, sonic youth, yo la tengo, guided by voices, the beatles, mbv, the pixies, the byrds, led zep, pavement, the sea and cake, eno, bowie, early U2 and REM, flaming lips, built to spill, pretenders, missing persons, french kicks, beach boys, wilco, pink floyd, luna, galaxie 500, the shins, iron maiden...

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Record Label: at this point... our own damn selves.

My Blog

restaurant tour 07

so we still have no official word about SXSW, other than we're on standby. (isn't that a Grandaddy song?) hopefully we will play at least one day show if not at the actual festivus. in the mean-time...
Posted by on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 07:29:00 GMT

we're comin' back!

after a 3 month absence from the stage Midori Umi will return to Room 710 Jan. 5 in the '07. just a week later (Fri. Jan 12) we've been asked to share the stage with ST-37 for their CD release p...
Posted by on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 07:05:00 GMT

the zep must wait

sadly, due to injury we will not be performing as Led Zeppelin for the Halloween show this year. hopefully next year we can do it, and perhaps we will pepper some sets in the near future by gett...
Posted by on Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:13:00 GMT

we love the gay leather bar!

seriously, the show last night at Chain Drive was awesome. thanks to all y'all who made it out on a school night, and to the fantastic staff of that fine establishment. we're playing a pri...
Posted by on Thu, 28 Sep 2006 07:32:00 GMT

how the summer slips away...

here we are and it's already almost october. we're playing wed. sept. 27 @ chain drive with The Personals and Militant Babies, and we'll be performing several Led Zeppelin songs DRESSED AS LED Z...
Posted by on Tue, 26 Sep 2006 08:57:00 GMT

more summer news...

well folks, July is almost gone... here's what's on the plate for Midori Umi...July 28 we will rock out at Ego's with our new friends Carousel Shy from Houston, and with new in-town friends The Happy...
Posted by on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:41:00 GMT

recommended!

Our show this coming Thurs. June 22 is in the Austin Chronicle recommended shows... Benko, Midori Umi, The Paper South, Friday After Dark It's gonna be a good un!
Posted by on Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:21:00 GMT

summer shows, recording news, and kudos

Thanks again to everyone who came to our show at The Parish, it was a blast! We're working on setting up shows for the summer months--in June we're playing Sat. the 10th at Red's Scoot Inn, Eas...
Posted by on Wed, 24 May 2006 11:39:00 GMT

Thank YOU!

thank you to all those who made it out to the Parish tonight. it was a super fun show and we hope to play there again in the near future! see all y'all on June 22! MU
Posted by on Fri, 12 May 2006 00:49:00 GMT

"Local melodo-rock conflagration!" May 11

our show with The Swells and Magnet School is reccommended in the The Austin Chronicle this week. we hope all y'all can make it out for some thursday night rock n' roll.
Posted by on Fri, 05 May 2006 14:55:00 GMT